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Present: Olga Bachilova, Eric Breitkreutz, Matthew Bronski, Bill Chase, Charles Clutz, Jack Glassman, David Hart, Wendall Kalsow, David Kelman, Krista McFadden, Bill Mack, Doug Manley, Henry Moss, Ivan Myjer, Brian Roche, Deane Rykerson, Susan Schur, Malcolm Smiley, Wayne Towle, Gary Wolf 1. Wayne Towle-Fine Wood Finishes: Wayne Towle's company has produced and restored specialized wood finishes for twenty six years. Twenty-five craftspeople now work with Wayne, whose business began with restoration of architectural wood finishes and expanded to include unusual finishes for new millwork. Several members of our committee had worked with Wayne on conservation problems that ranged from buckled veneers on painted paneling to restoration of highly exposed carved Corinthian capitals. We invited Wayne to give us a grounding in best practices. He immediately began with a controversial recommendation-that wood stripping be done with methylene chloride. DEP and OSHA would discourage you, but careful hand and eye take you part way to handling it safely. Personal protection, in combination with excellent ventilation with suction over the worked area and away from your nostrils is even more important because fumes can be lethal even if you skip the alleged (not proven) carcinogenic effects. Wayne explained that methylene chloride is so volatile that it doesn't affect wood cells, doesn't mess with pH, won't disturb surface texture or raise grain. He rinses stripped areas with alcohol to remove latent wax. Latex paints are easy to remove with methylene chloride. Methylene chloride is non-flammable, an attribute that can be important to insurers. Peel-Away once made a methylene chloride product, but it was discontinued. Now Peel-Away is a caustic poultice (probably sodium hydroxide) that must be neutralized. This is more difficult than most applicators care to admit. It is impossible to take pH readings everywhere on the surface, let alone throughout the depth of the wood. Trouble becomes apparent when heat and humidity begin to affect the treated areas, and deep inadequately neutralized alkalis come to the surface, immediately blistering paint. Water-based strippers often saturate wood and saturated areas can take months to dry. Wayne described stave-jointed columns at Harvard Business School as an example of a restoration project that went wrong, in part as a result of preparation that did not complete its drying cycle. Unprotected from rain, Dutchmen and epoxy repairs popped out and joints opened, admitting more water. After someone else's failure, Wayne's crew came in and used methylene chloride to start over. Wayne has encountered casein paints that are particularly difficult to strip, since they behave like clay. Some manufacturers use waxes to thicken their strippers. Tannic acid can migrate to the surface as a response to these products causing another pH problem. Heat plates can be very dangerous because dust can ignite even with "low temperature" appliances, beneath concealed surfaces. They are also very slow and require a great deal of subsequent preparation because of residues they leave on the surface. Though not visible to the naked eye, lead is often deposited on the surface of wood stripped with hot plates, making sanding of the stripped surfaces an invisible hazard. [On a side note: Wayne warned that the fumes from muriatic acid can quickly rust every ferrous metal object inside a house, including stainless steel and the innards of all electrical devices. Never use muriatic acid inside!] Wayne emphasized that his firm strips wood to restore architectural finishes, but is not in the business of legal deleading. He said that if the millwork in a house has been tested positive for lead and requires legal deleading, his firm cannot work on it. Wendall Kalsow pointed out that "Stripping lead paint is entirely different from "deleading" as defined by Mass. Law. If you call it deleading, then say goodbye to the wood." David Hart noted that lead paint removal rules can vary from town to town and that some municipalities are especially strict. Meanwhile, Wayne constantly tests and monitors workers' lead levels. He uses green netting on scaffolding to help reassure neighbors. Some neighbors are as volatile as methylene chloride. Wayne has had jobs shut down by neighbors who complained of fumes, only to later learn that the problem was not his work, but someone else's idling diesel truck. Wood finishing specifications should prohibit the use of wire brushes. Wayne advocated the use of wood finish samples with pieces retained by the architect, the owner, and the contractor. He suggested specifying methylene chloride strippers and requiring a stripped sample as a part of the bid. Throughout the project, the wood finisher should be held to the appearance and level of quality of the bid sample. Architects should be cautious when they use AWI specification clauses, as these are very general and may not ensure the appearance or quality you have assumed. The next part of Wayne's program involved his describing the process associated with samples of finished millwork that he passed around. At this point, Wayne sort of shifted his focus from historic interiors to some of his $300,000 kitchen cabinetry installations in order to illustrate the different effects of translucent dyes that penetrate wood, versus oil stains where pigments sit on the surface of the wood. Each of these coloring processes can then be toned and finished. Finishes may include lacquers that incorporate a dye or pigments within the lacquer for added depth to the finish. Samples included: panel moldings that were stained, toned and shadow glazed; an aniline dyed panel with lacquer finish. Other samples demonstrated "reverse liming" (light over black) and over-glazes on distressed wood (struck by wing nuts on a cable for random impact craters, then edges sanded away). then a sample of rift sawn oak circulated that had been scraped to reveal a subtle wave of textural change, heightened by light wire brushing to raise the grain further for color variation within a single stain application. Wayne lacquered this sample then rubbed and waxed afterwards to "go beyond the off the gun finish." This sample was moving toward laborious hand-rubbed finishes like French Polish, which is a form of shellac where a full finish can take nine-to-fifteen coats. Wayne passed around a sample of a lustrous, hand-rubbed French Polish finish that was smoother than Maurice Chevalier. Ooh la la. Wayne's last sample was a "gunstock finish," a simple flat oil finish that was then waxed and rubbed. …somehow this led to a side lesson on the best preparation method for dried exterior wood-Val Oil can revitalize a dry base, but take moisture readings and build a canopy over the work. Oil-based primers must dry for three days or more and be kept out of direct sunlight on hot days. A last inside tip: "Sherwin Williams wrote the AWI specifications for finishes…" Thus, expect the AWI specifications to generically describe common finishes readily achieved by less skilled workers with standard products made by Sherwin Williams and other large manufacturers. In his high-end new work, Wayne notes a recent trend toward hand-rubbed finishes, which were highly uncommon for many years. If someone is spending a small fortune on custom kitchen cabinets, they increasingly tend to want something more than a Minwax stain and polyurethane finish. Wayne noted that North Bennett Street School preservation carpentry program does not teach wood finishes in a comprehensive way. Many high-end new furniture craftsmen/artisans have the philosophy of "show the natural beauty of the wood" which sadly translates to simply putting a clear coat on to protect it. Although he understands the philosophy, Wayne debates that this is the best way to show the natural beauty of the wood; he believes the best method depends upon the specific wood. For example, Wayne said that any highly figured wood can look somewhat lifeless with a clear coat. Even a simple oiling, such as with a Danish oil, will bring out more of the depth and tiger's eye appearance of highly figured wood, better showcasing its natural beauty. Any good alkyd oil would work, but he recommended Sutherland Wells for their oil and wax product that is especially suitable for dense exotics. Master Finishing & Restoration, Inc. 178 Crescent Road, Needham, MA 02494 Phone 781-449-1313 Fax 781-449-1182 2. Bernard Capen House: Elizabeth Randall of Landmark Services showed pictures of a First Period house (built in Dorchester in 1675, according to dendrochronological evidence) at the corner of Wheatland Avenue and Washington Street, which was carefully documented and dismantled by her firm. This is the second Near Death Experience for the house, which was moved to Milton in 1909 to live out another 97 years. Elizabeth showed a 1909 Boston Globe article about the house, a bill of sale, and elegant field notes by an MIT student who recorded wall framing and joint configurations. Landmark Services has stored the house in five trailers awaiting reassembly for a purchaser. If a prospective site and purchaser occur to you, call Elizabeth at (508) 520-3959. [What is the status of the elaborate brick chimney with integral bake ovens? Disassembled with brick salvaged?] 3. Lee's Bridge Reconstruction, Lincoln/Concord: Henry Moss and Ivan Myjer pooled their meager knowledge about the reconstruction of an old granite exterior to a concrete bridge that failed a few years ago. Henry confirmed that reconstruction is well-advanced although some of the stones seem heavily chipped. Ivan said Joseph Gnazzo may be involved in resetting the stone. 4. Community Preservation Act (CPA) Funds at Work: Gary Wolf and Ivan Myjer cited examples of CPA funds that have been applied to good purpose in Weston and Bedford. Gary said Weston is using some of their fund to purchase preservation easements. Ivan said Bedford is using funds to match Massachusetts Preservation Project Fund (MPPF) grants and that some money has been applied to condition assessments in historic burying grounds.
8: 00 a.m., Thursday, 14 September 2006 The Architects' Building, 52 Broad Street, Boston, fifth floor Featuring Jeanne Van Orman "Planning Issues in Historic Contexts"
Henry Moss, Matthew Bronski, and Sara Wermiel co-leaders and scribes
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